Wherever He Goes
by SupernaturalMondler
Summary: Short little drabble of Sam's thoughts leading up to Transition. Spoilers for S7. Josh/Sam friendship


**This is another product of me sitting in class and just letting words happen. It's also a product of me going through a huge Josh/Sam phase because I just adore these soft boys together. This is mostly just friendship, but if you wanna read it as slash, by all means please do! This takes place at the beginning of Transition, so spoilers for everything until that. Let me know what you think!**

Sam would follow Josh anywhere.

He had proven that before, when he dropped everything on the spot to follow him to New Hampshire, and then to DC, just simply because Josh had asked him to. There would almost certainly come a day when he would prove it again, when Josh Lyman would appear and tell him he needed him, and Sam would be powerless to resist.

As much as he loved his life out in California—and he did, he had everything he could have asked for—he knew it wouldn't last. It was too safe, too easy. It didn't provide the constant mental gymnastics that running the government did, and that was mostly okay with him. He didn't _need_ that stimulation to be fulfilled, succeeding at this was more than enough. Except. From the moment he had settled back into his quiet life in the private sector, Sam knew there was one thing and one thing alone that had a chance of dragging him back into politics.

It was only matter of time, really.

As soon as Santos declared for the Presidency with Josh standing proudly behind him, Sam knew his days in the sun were numbered. He expected it to be like last time, so he was surprised when the primaries came and went without so much as a phone call, and even more so when he hadn't heard anything by Election Day.

Sam followed the Santos campaign closely from the beginning, knew every time his friend made a trip out to California. And still nothing.

He wouldn't admit it even if pressed, but Sam was disappointed. He didn't particularly want to get back into politics, but he wanted Josh to at least _ask_ him. They had had so much fun on the first campaign, and Sam was grateful every day that Josh had come along and pulled him away from the monotony of his life in New York; working for Bartlet had been the greatest experience of his life, and he knew Josh knew that.

So why wouldn't Josh ask him to do it again?

In fairness, Josh probably knew that he wouldn't say yes, because they were eight years older this time and Sam had always been searching for stability, and he had sworn when he left Washington the last time it would be for good. Sam himself wasn't entirely sure he would have said yes if asked, but he still wasn't sure he would have said no.

So now it was almost December and part of Sam was convinced he had missed his chance, that Josh didn't need him around the way Sam thought he would. He even went so far as to contemplate calling Josh himself, but each time he stopped himself because he still didn't know what he wanted the outcome of that call to be.

So he just kept waiting, because part of him was _so sure_ that Josh would come for him.

He continued his routine: the job he was great at, time spent with his girlfriend—now fiancée (and that was another consideration), nights watching baseball and absently wondering how the Mets were doing now that Josh wasn't around to update him on every move the team made.

Maybe it just wasn't to be, he decided. That's okay, he really did like his life just fine the way it was. Actually, it was probably better this way. Safer.

No sooner had Sam finally come to terms with the realization that Josh just wasn't coming this time when his meeting was interrupted, and he turned around and suddenly it was eight years ago and he was sitting in a different board room in New York, watching a dripping-wet Josh point to his blinding grin that he had found the real deal.

No such signal was necessary this time, nor was one given. Sam hadn't decided anything yet, despite how much time he had spent thinking about it. He had an entire lifestyle to consider, one that would surely fall to pieces if he dropped everything and followed Josh back into the war zone of the White House. But one look at his best friend's haggard face and Sam excused himself from the meeting.

"I thought you'd never call."

On second thought, Sam would follow Josh anywhere.

 **Stop by my instagram .wing and say hi if you ever wanna talk West Wing! I'm always looking for ideas to spark more little drabbles like this!**


End file.
